Improvement in cane-mills



STEVENS & POWERS.

Cane Mill.

Patented Oct. 26', 1869.

llNirnn STATES ATENT Orrrcn.

H. 1' STEVENS, OF BUFFALO, NE YORK, AND D. J. POXVERS, OF MADISON,

VISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO GEO. L. SQUI ER, OF BUFFALO, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CANE-MILLS.

I Specification forming part of Letters Patent No- 96,'23, dated Ociobcr 26, 1859.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY B. Srnvnns, of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, and D. J. POWERS, of Madison, in the county of Dane and State of \Visconsin, have invented Improvements in Sugar-Cane Mills; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification Figure 1 being a side elevation of a mill constructed with our improvements; Fig. 2, atop view thereof; Fig. 3, a horizontal section in a plane indicated by the line w 00, Fig. 1.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Our improvements are applied to verticalroller cane-mills; and some of them consist in the adaptation to such mills of principles which have been secured to us in former Letters Patent by different arrangements to horizontal mills. These features are, first, wroughtiron strap-bolts around the bearing of the rollers; second, india-rubber springs or washers upon the strap-bolts to give elasticity to the main roller; third, the free removable scraper;

The application of these features of invention to vertical-roller cane-mills has been attended with much difficulty, so as to derive from them advantages corresponding with those secured by their use in horizontal-roller mills. Thus, while it is a matter of comparative ease to make the rollers of horizontal mills adjustable with vertical millsgowing to their peculiarities of construction and action, the successful adaptation of self-adj ustment to the rollers has been regarded as a problem nearly impossible to practically perform. This difficulty will be appreciated when it is considered that the power is applied directly to the main roller, itself comparatively small, through a lever twelve or fourteen feet in length, and consequently a powerful leverage is exerted upon its bearings, thereby. subjecting them to immense strain; and hence, though self-adjustment is all'the more necessary or desirable, yet it is much more difficult to apply the principle without disarrangement.

Unless the canes are fed with great care and regularity, the mills frequently clog, and are very liable to break, without elasticity and self-adjustability; and since, in order to produce the requisite pressure, the rollers have to be keyed up closely together in a rigid position, and all the strain, whether ordinary or excessive, from any special cause, has heretofore been resisted'solely by the cast-iron frame or housing which held the rollers, such material has furnished inadequate strength to avoid breakage; or, if the rollers are adjusted too far apart, they will not crush the cane sufficiently nor fully express the juice. This defeet is increased in the vertical mills by'the additional difficulty in feeding the canes regularly in the vertical opening between the rollwith no more than one-half of the surfaces'of the j ournals, the opposite bearings being fixed, substantially as shown, and thereby limiting the movement of the journals in that direction, so as to allow a movement of the roller toward and from the inner rollers. Around these bearings the bend of the U-shaped wrought-iron strap-bolts H Hfits substantially as shown, and extends thence straight across the top of the mill through tubular apertures d (1 formed in the plates D E, thence through and to a position beyond the fixed bearings of the minor rollers, where their projecting ends receive the india-rubber springs h h. The ends of the strap-bolts have screw-threads cut thereon to receive nuts, by which the degree of compression given to the springs is regulated. Metallic washers 7c 70 are inserted between the screw-nuts and springs. By thus screwing up the nut any degree of compression is produced, thereby rendering it wholly unnecessary to set and reset the rollers for different sizes of cane or variation in the quantity fed into the mill, because any increase of from'the pressure between the rollers or lat- A We adjust the shaft or journals of the oral wrenching thereof by the driving lever or sweep, thereby avoiding breakage and obviating the necessity of care and nicety in feeding the canes to the .rollers.

()ur improved arrangement of the scraper or turn-plate l obviates the serious defects common to scrapers of verticatroller mills in ad justing it to proper contact with the surface of the minor fced-roller, and in readily removing it from the mill when necessary, which necessity, with the usual construction of mills, occurs very frequently, at least every time it clogs. Ordinarily, the bolts and keys must be removed and the whole mill taken apart to remove the scraper, and with the best arrangements' when the scraper is replaced the means of adjustment are wanting, or so defective as to render the scraper inoperative and nearly useless. All these difiiculties we have overcome in the most complete manner, leaving nothing to be desired on the score of simplicity, convenience, and eiiiciency. The scraper l is of peculiar shape, the edge '2' being made to iit the face of the feed-roller B with a slightly concave face, in orderto direct the cane through the space between the main roller A. and delivery-roller C. It is held in place by and turns 01' is adjusted on an iron rod, 9, which is inserted through the top plate, and simply fits in a semicircular groove in the back of the scraper, and thence extends down into or through the bottom plate. \Vith this arrangement by simply withdrawing and replacing the rod 1), the scraper can be removed and reinserted almost in an instant, without disturbing any other parts of the machine, and without requiring a wrench or tool of any kind to effect the removal and insertion. The

scraper turns freely around this rod as far screw, 8, near its outer end,which bears against one of the housings, G, substantially as repre sented. Thus the handle serves both the purpose of a handle to move the scraper by and as a means of adjustment, by which any desired pressure can be brought to bear on the feed-roller. 1

\Ve claim" The turn-plateI, constructed substantially as described, and arranged with its semicircular groove, and rod 12 fitting therein, and the adj Listing-screw s, in combination with the minor rollers of the vertical cane-mill, substantiall y as and for the purpose herein speeified.

The above specification of our improvement in sugar-cane mills signed by us this 26th day of March, 1868.

H. B. STEVENS. 1'). J. POWERS. \Vitnesses:

H. (J. S UIEn, AMY WILLLuis. 

